Salman Khan's Ek Tha Tiger grosses Rs 184.83 crore, second Bollywood film to do so

Salman Khan's latest release — Ek Tha Tiger (ETT) has netted Rs 184.83 crore in net collections in India in just 16 days according to its producers Yashraj Films. This is the second Bollywood film to do so, with the only film posting higher collections being 3 Idiots with Rs 202 crore net.

Salman Khan—the name is enough to ensure box office success. Adding close to Rs 2 crore daily in its second week, plus a huge Rs 51 crore in overseas collections, Khan's fifth consecutive hit has left the industry and audience awestruck.

"The giant share which we have got from the multiplexes shows that we have definitely converted a lot of fence sitters, besides adding nearly Rs 2.50 crore daily even now, cannot be only single screens, whose average ticket price is Rs 40-60 rupees!" says director Khan adding that the success of ETT is definitely gratifying because it's a vindication of a large section of people who accepted a film.

The one fact that almost everyone, from social commentors to his directors and audience agree is that Salman Khan can be officially called a phenomena and is currently in a phase where whatever he does is of interest to a very large mass of people.

While Ek Tha Tiger released probably the widest that a Bollywood film has with 3,300 screens and 550 overseas, nearly every day has been a record breaking day—from its first day Independence Day collections of Rs 32 crore to a seond week run which is amongst the top seven or eight. Only 3 Idiots, Dabangg, Rowdy Rathore, Ready, Golmaal 3 and Housefull 2 have collected more than 30 crore net in week two.

Karan Johar calls Salman a Tsunami which just engulfs an audience, while lyricist Prasoon Joshi says it's a goodwill the star has built over decades and has built a loyal fan base which has always stood by him. "The massive success of ETT at the box office is undeniable, as is the supremacy of Salman Khan who has pushed the limits of the business with every film since Wanted," says Chief Strategy Officer, Priti Shahani, Reliance Entertainment who worked with Salman on Bodyguard.

For himself, numbers are something the star has always dismissed. His director agrees that Salman just brushes the talk of numbers off, yet as Kabir Khan himself acknowledges, in the film industry the yardstick of success is definitely commercial cinema and it means a lot.

As a filmmaker he is now in a comfort zone where he can do what he choose with less questions asked. As for Salman, who is now being compared to Rajnikant, it's just three months away for him to don his Dabanggavatar of Chulbul Pandey and hit bullseye again and break all the records that Tiger set.